18 February 2008

if you read our last post "todays word is tessellated", you'll know maison21 ended the post with a teaser regarding how to get some pretty tessellated fossil stone of your very own, for the low price of absolutely free! well, maison21 is making good on his promise, and he'd like to announce the 1st ever maison21 sweepstakes spectacular!maison21 is giving away a chic vintage tessellated coral stone box (in the style of karl springer) from his very own collection! this fab little 5" x 5" box is one of the jewels of his collection due to it's rich coral-y red color (somewhat of a rarity for the this style of box, as they usually beige-y or beige-y pink). boxes of all sorts are one of maison21's favorite decorative accessories for chic tablescapes, so we're sure the lucky winner will find a use for this little guy in their home. or they can regift it to their favorite decorista if it's not their own personal style, or they can toss it in a drawer and never use it, 'cause who cares? it's free!now before we get to the specifics of how to win this little beauty, maison21 would like to acknowledge a couple of his fellow bloggers, from who he stole this idea, and give a little background for his contest rules:

back when maison21 was a wee 'lil blogger of just two weeks, he ran across the blog of ed & doug from swank lighting (via this is glamorous), who created quite a stir amongst the design blogging world by giving away a pair of gorgeous vintage murano lamps from their amazing, one of a kind stash. maison21 almost had to hate ed and doug for their treasure trove of lamps, but he begrudgingly ended up admiring both their luck, and their marketing skill, in creating the contest to announce the opening of the new swank lighting showroom! what a great way to grow readers for their blog, gain shoppers for their store, AND create a mailing list for future events, like the subsequent opening of their ebay lighting store! you clever devils...

(you can visit the lamps in their new home here. they were stolen from maison21- oops, i mean- they were won by the lucky patricia gray, who will probably steal- oops again- win my humble box, should she decide to enter my somewhat less glamorous, but still free- so don't complain- sweepstakes).

my second acknowledgment for the theft of this idea goes to my good blogging friend, the inspiring and prolific, felicity, of all things bright and beautiful. in her FANTASTIC and informative series of posts for new bloggers (brilliant idea, felicity), amongst the great tips she gives for growing blog readership, was to post as often as possible, visit other blogs frequently and leave comments on them, and to hold competitions on your own blog. since maison21 is too busy running his interior decorating empire to post and comment as much as he would like, he figured that the competition idea was the quick and lazy way out! hence the free pretty!but, maison21 while wanting to increase readership for his blog, is far too selfish to just give something away without any gain for himself. so while the box is totally free, there is a small catch to entering the giveaway: with your email entry, maison21 is hoping you'll include a pic of your favorite piece of furniture, lighting or decorative accessory- any object, any style, any setting. you see, maison21 is a compulsive collector of images he finds inspiring and has built a library of hundreds of images of individual pieces scoured from the sites he visits. m21 is so obsessed with design that this is his idea of a fun and relaxing hobby, but he finds it useful for his work as well- when he is involved in a project, and needs to design a custom piece of furniture, he can just steal an idea- oops, he means, draw inspiration from- an idea in his files (btw, isn't m21 lucky that his hobby and his work are one and the same? he could just pinch himself sometimes).

the idea is get others to email him images so maison21 can get inspiration outside of his own point of view, so please make sure your pic is of something you love, not something you think m21 would like. he thinks these pics might be especially handy when designing projects outside his own idiom- as an example, commissioned to do a little decoratin' work for a home in the rocky mountains, maison21 adapted the design of these vintage 80's milo baughman lounge chairs to suit the asian modern-meets-mountain craftsmen vibe of the client's requested decor- not exactly his own personal style, but he thinks they worked out rather well:so if you are still with us, here's how the contest is gonna work:

the 1st ever maison21 sweepstakes spectacular rules for entry

enter via email on the link in the sidebar on the right of page. your email address will be not be shared with anyone, and maison21 promises not to spam you with future emails (well, maybe an email to invite you to a special event or somethin', but in all likelyhood, you'll never hear from maison21 again).

with your contest entry, maison21 would appreciate it if you attached a picture of something you think is pretty- it can be anything- an antique chair, a modern table, an urn, a sculpture, a lamp, a teapot- anything decorative you find inspiring.

contest entries must be submitted by march 31st, and winner will be selected on april 1st (april fool's day- because maison21 must be a fool to give something away for free!)

one entry per person. two if you can't decide between your two favorite things. 3 max, ok?

winner to be selected at random, unless the piece you send is so spectacular that maison21 decides you are the winner in the sheer good taste category and you simply must win. (hey, it's his contest, and m21 can make the rules as he please- he promises he won't cheat and just pick his best friend or somethin', though).

just kidding- we really will select the winner at random. maybe we'll give out a honorable mention award for good taste if your selection knocks our socks off.

box will be mailed anywhere in the world through united states postal service global priority mail.

please enter- maison21 will feel like a fool if his contest inbox remains empty!

Woo hoo! I'm gonna have to see what I can come up with although I really love all the Willy Rizzo pieces I posted a while back. What could be better than a table with a bar in the middle. You don't even have to get up to make yourself a drink! Sounds right up your alley huh?!

Maison - You are hilarious :) I truly enjoyed reading about your contest and I must enter it :-) I love collecting boxes myself and totally understand collecting images because that is something I do myself. Very clever.

who the heck is maison21?

maison21 is christian may, a los angeles based interior decorator with decided opinions about design. he'd like to share those opinions with you, to make the world a little bit prettier for the good of all mankind...

save a life!

Adopt-a-pet from LA animal services!

proud to be a part of:

if m21 has used your photo, and not given proper credit, please drop an email and we'll fix the situation; and if you own the photo but don't care to have your good name associated with m21's questionable one, let us know about that too- we'll pull your image asap. it's common courtesy, after all.